Sir Lewis Dyve was born in Bromham on 3 November 1599; matriculated at Oxford in 1614; and was knighted in 1620. He was an MP, although not sitting for Bedford or Bedfordshire. During the Civil War he was a staunch royalist. His correspondence and other papers are transcribed in this volume and arranged to recount his life under the headings: early years; life in Dorset and London; the approach of war; first campaigns; war in Bedfordshire; war in the south-west; the siege of Sherborne; imprisonment in London; Preston, the Isle of Man, Ireland; the Low Countries and Paris; France; France and Italy; London and Somerset.

Gordon Tibbutt FSA, FRHistS (1913-1982) was an historian of nonconformity in Bedfordshire and wrote histories of many of its dissenting churches.